McClurg's Home Remodeling Blog

With more pleasant weather on the way, now is a great time to act on those home renovations you’ve been dreaming about during the cold winter and rainy spring. The summers may feel short in CNY, but this season provides a substantial chunk of mild weather. This makes it an ideal time for hiring a trusted design-build contractor to discuss your plans with, and make your home renovation dreams a reality before cold weather arrives and the snow starts flying yet again. Below we’ve listed three types of renovation projects you may want to consider completing in the summer.

If you visited this year’s Parade of Homes you may have been impressed by the beautiful stone facades on the exterior of the showcase houses and the decorative interior stone veneer used on walls and fireplace surrounds.

Decorative stone veneer can add architectural and visual interest to the interior of a home or office and become a focal point in any room.

Each year we do hundreds of remodeling and home repair jobs both large and small. Frequently, our customers ask us what we do with construction waste materials and potentially reusable items removed during demolition. This question is asked so often that we felt it would be a good topic to share in our blog.

Over the years, we’ve had the pleasure of helping owners of historic homes with renovation and remodeling projects. Restoring a historic home is rewarding and challenging, especially if the home is located in a historic preservation area where zoning ordinances will impact plans to renovate or remodel.

Over the years, we have strived to provide the best service possible to our customers. We understand that a home is a personal refuge and that a remodeling project can be very disruptive to a homeowner’s daily activities. At the end of each day our carpenters cleanup the worksite to minimize dust and debris.

We are also concerned about the environment and adhere to high standards in handling and disposing of construction waste materials. Construction waste includes bricks; concrete; wood including painted, treated and coated wood and wood products; drywall; plaster; plumbing fixtures; insulation; roofing shingles; glass; plastics; buckets of ten gallons or more; wiring and piping. We include the cost of demolition and disposal of construction waste in your project estimate.

Unfortunately, in this business there are some contractors out there who do not dispose of construction waste properly and resort to illegal dumping, burying debris onsite or burning debris. While this allows them to reduce their costs, it is at the expense of everyone else. Rising costs of trash disposal, laziness or ignorance of the environmental impact are the primary reasons offenders create eyesores in rural and woodland areas by dumping construction debris. Taxpayers often pay for the cleanup especially if the dumping occurs on public lands. Investigators will search through the debris for clues about the violators but too often are unable to locate the source.

If your home needs an exterior upgrade or replacement, you’ll want to look at vinyl siding. Vinyl siding was introduced in the early 1960s and has been a popular product due to its durability and easy maintenance. Vinyl siding is made of polyvinyl chlorate (PVC), a material that is strong, rigid and impact resistant. For more information about PVC, check out the Vinyl Siding Institute.

When work begins on your kitchen remodeling project you and your family don’t have to starve but you will have to make other arrangements for meals, especially if it will take several weeks or a month or two to complete the job. Eating out every night is an option but an expensive one.

You have your plan in hand, you’ve hired a contractor and now the day for beginning your remodeling project is quickly approaching. You need to clear the kitchen and organize the contents. If this seems overwhelming, follow these steps to simplify the process.

If you’ve had a child with a broken leg, parents who are experiencing problems with walking or if you have had an injury or surgery which has impeded your mobility, you know that entering and exiting buildings can be a problem. There is nothing more frustrating than being unable to enter or exit your home easily.